Haiti, the media, and Shelter Boxes

A long time correspondent of mine, Martin Avis in England, recently had this to say about the crisis in Haiti. I copy it here because, 1) he says it a whole bunch better than I could, and 2) I agree with everything he has to say. I do this without his permission, but I think he won't mind:

"Have you noticed how the news coverage of the terrible situation in Haiti is changing? More and more now we are seeing stories about how the American military are holding up aid deliveries, or how the constant visits by publicity-seeking VIPs is hindering work on the ground, or how the French are accusing everyone else of imperialism, or how looting is out of control, or how a lawless country is descending into anarchy.

"Now that there are no more pictures to be had of children being pulled out of rubble alive, it is as if the world's media has decided to vilify Haiti and all concerned with trying to help there - because outrage sells.

"Well I'm outraged alright.

"I'm outraged that petty commercial interests are being put in front of millions of people's lives.

"I know that sending aid to a devastated country like Haiti is going to be fraught with difficulties. I know that criminals will try to hijack some of it. I know that desperate people will resort to desperate measures to feed their families. And I know that the sheer scale of the problems means that there will be delays and holdups in getting the right aid to the right people.

"And I still say that we should be sending all the help we can.

"If we listen to the veiled suggestion by the media that our aid is being wasted or diverted and stop putting our hands in our pockets, the death toll won't be 200,000 as some estimates suggest, but maybe ten times that.

"Make no mistake ... what has happened to one of the poorest countries on Earth is an ongoing disaster of epic proportions. And only by the US and UN sending people to help, only by 'celebrities' raising awareness of the situation, only by ordinary people like you and me putting our hands in our comfortable, well-fed, safe pockets can there ever hope to be a better life for the millions of survivors.

"Better life? Make that ANY life.

"All over the world, Rotary clubs are trying to help by providing money to send Shelter Boxes. Each box contains a tent and survival equipment for ten people for up to 6 months and costs £490 (pounds - about $780 I guess).

"The entire ShelterBox organization is run by Rotarians, so admin costs are absolutely minimal. You can see more about what they do at http://www.shelterboxusa.org/.

"Already thousands of boxes have been sent - the first ones to arrive were used as emergency field hospitals - and thousands more are being prepared to go as soon as possible.......

..... if you are moved to give something to help, donating directly to http://shelterboxusa.org/ can be done on their web page.

"This is a disaster on a scale that none of us can really comprehend. Please don't allow your compassion to be eroded by
cynical media reports that are just about making headlines. "

Martin Avis
http://www.kickstartdaily.com

Note: I did change the shelterbox URL to reflect the USA website instead of the UK website since the vast majority of my readers are in the US.

That's it for today. My next post will be about something really helpful and full of insight, I hope. Till then .......
Dick

Martin's Power Thought, Harvey's Ultimate Supertips Book

This has nothing to do with IM, just a power thought from Martin Avis of Kickstart Daily:

"There is a Buddhist mental trick that can often come to the rescue in times when you are lost for an answer.

"When a problem is in front of you and your mind is refusing to come up with a solution, try this:

"Close your eyes, calm your thoughts and count yourself backwards from 5 to 1. As you count, imagine yourself entering a deep, dark, quiet place where all your memories are stored.

"Bring you problem into focus and tell yourself that you know the answer, you just have to remember it.

"Speak inside your mind to that subconscious place and tell it that the answer is buried in your memories and that it should drop everything else and go off to find it.

"That's all you do.

"Now count yourself back to the present, put your problem to one side and get on with other things.

"Your mind will now work on the assumption that you DO know the answer rather than panic that you don't.

"In time, at an unexpected moment, a solution will pop into your head. And when it does, take note. It is almost certain to be right.

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I have talked about this one before, but it is worth repeating because:
1.) It's free
2.) Requires no opt-in
3.) Can go viral if you let it
4.) It's packed with all sorts of useful information about viral marketing, and
5.) is free and requires no opt-in (oops, I said that already).
6.) Has a neat Splash Page with my picture on it? (Whoopee!)

Here Goes: The Ultimate Supertips Book

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OK - OK - OK - I'm still casting about out there for a really good Internet based course on (what else?) making money on the Internet. My Internet Martin Avis has suggested Michael Green's new course called The Money Tree.

And, a few other people have started to promote his new course that is supposed to teach us how to make money from the Internet anytime you want to. This course, 'The Money Tree,' is subtitled, 'How to make $30,000 in 30 days ... guaranteed!'

The original Avis review, and a link to a lot more information on what the course contains, is here: http://www.moneytreereview.com/. I am not promoting this, just reporting on what I am checking out. I'll let you know if I decide to take him up on the offer ....... stay tuned.

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In the meantime, I am still putting the final pieces on my Traffic Exchange project. That's also a ..... stayed tuned for more ..... project. Read the previous post to learn more. ALSO, subscribe to this blog using one of the links to the right, where is says subscribe to the blog.

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'Nuff for now - TTFN, and AMF (or Adios My Friends)!